Madison, WI – Assembly and Senate members and clean-government advocates joined Sen. Larson today to unveil a “Campaign Integrity” package that promotes open and transparent government. Senator Chris Larson had the following remarks regarding the proposals, which have been circulated for co-sponsorship.

“Wisconsin was once a state admired for tough campaign finance laws that protected both our public voice and the integrity of our political process. Those laws have been eroded and are no longer effective. This can be clearly seen by the Wisconsin campaign spending increase from $16,930,606 in 2014 to $28,086,673 in 2016 (see attached graph).

“It is our right as citizens to have a strong voice in a healthy democracy and not to be buried by the bags of corporate special interest money that are now free to be dumped into Wisconsin campaigns.

“Given the attacks on our democracy and the rapid moves to legalize corruption by Walker and legislative Republicans, we’re putting forward eight clean campaign bills that would put Wisconsin back on the right side of history. These bills are backed by advocates for clean and transparent government, including the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Common Cause in Wisconsin. These nonpartisan watchdog groups were among the first to sound the alarm over the danger of the Republican gutting of our Chapter 11 campaign finance laws. In fact, these eight bills reflect some of the most egregious problems with our campaign finance laws that these groups have identified.

“Continuing to let powerful special interest groups and wealthy corporations have an oversized financial stranglehold on Wisconsin elections is a betrayal of our shared values. The Campaign Integrity package will restore our neighbors’ faith in our democracy and promote fairness in our campaign finance rules.”

The deadline for signing on as a co-sponsor to this package is June 21. A summary of each of the eight bills is attached.